By Xinhua,
Buenos Aires : Argentine basketball player Emanuel Ginobili said that United States are the odds-on favourites to win the basketball gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Ginobili, 30, member of the three-times US National Basketball Association (NBA) champions San Antonio Spurs, however, did not rule out the chances of Argentina and Spain who, he said, could give a tough fight to the Americans.
Ginobili told Xinhua Wednesday during a press conference here that the “clear candidates are US in first place, then Spain and then us (Argentina).”
Ginobili said Lithuania, Greece and Russia were the other teams that could give the favourites a good run for their money.
Ginobili, felt China, too, could cause some ripples but they don’t have the potential to be semifinalists.
Ginobili, a gold-medallist at the Athens Olympics in 2004, is a doubtful starter for the Beijing Games as he is nursing an ankle injury. A final decision will be taken in the first week of July after a medical check-up in San Antonio, Texas.